North Haston

[highpeak]

Nice work there Chris. Is that uncoupling magnet going to be hidden a bit more?

One possibility would have been to have incorporated the magnet into the grade crossing. I think it was Jim Mansfield who hid a magnet by painting it like a grade crossing.

I think another thing he came up with was to disguise it as part of a spilled load.

[Steve Williams]

You've used Steve's ashes as ground cover?? bit macabre, isn't it..??

I've been waiting for that one

[298]

One possibility would have been to have incorporated the magnet into the grade crossing. I think it was Jim Mansfield who hid a magnet by painting it like a grade crossing.

I've done that before.... It seemed like a good idea until I realised that every car that was spotted there blocked the crossing...

Edited February 3, 2014 by 298

[Jon Gwinnett]

And the local peace officer would be fining the crews for breaking City ordinance for blocking the crossing...

[highpeak]

If the crew isn't doing the Kadee-shuffle to clear the crossing then they deserve to be written up.

 

The other options Jim Mansfield suggested (in the January 1978 issue of RMC) were:

- timber infill and the remains of a shed where the track crew kept a handcar

- burying the magnet under foliage. The problem with that is that the magnet has to be set lower than spec for clearance, he solved that problem by using two magnets super-glued together. The magnets are aligned so the poles match and are clamped until the glue sets. With the more powerful magnetic field he was able to position the magnets 5 thou below the rail head giving clearance for the foliage.

 

The way he did the crossing solution, and it wasn't a public grade crossing, just timber in-fill such as might be used by the railroad to get road vehicles over the tracks, was to mask off the central third of the magnet and paint a wood-grain finish on the outer portions, then remove the masking and paint the middle portion. The end result looked quite convincing.

[298]

I've done that before.... It seemed like a good idea until I realised that every car that was spotted there blocked the crossing...

  

If the crew isn't doing the Kadee-shuffle to clear the crossing then they deserve to be written up.

If they had have done, the rest of the train would have blocked the clearance point, and the loco would have been trapped.

[Glorious NSE]

The other options Jim Mansfield suggested (in the January 1978 issue of RMC) were:

- timber infill and the remains of a shed where the track crew kept a handcar

- burying the magnet under foliage. The problem with that is that the magnet has to be set lower than spec for clearance, he solved that problem by using two magnets super-glued together. The magnets are aligned so the poles match and are clamped until the glue sets. With the more powerful magnetic field he was able to position the magnets 5 thou below the rail head giving clearance for the foliage.

 

If you know you'll need one there before you lay the track, then Kadee also do a larger/stronger one that works from under the ties.

[CVSNE]

I can't remember the last time I uncoupled cars with Kadee magnets on any layout. A pointy uncoupling pick means you can couple and uncouple the car anywhere. No need to install, then disguise the magnets and no need for the somewhat strange "offset" move to push the uncoupled cars.

 

From what I gather magnets are rather common over there? 

[Alcanman]

I can't remember the last time I uncoupled cars with Kadee magnets on any layout. A pointy uncoupling pick means you can couple and uncouple the car anywhere. No need to install, then disguise the magnets and no need for the somewhat strange "offset" move to push the uncoupled cars.

 

From what I gather magnets are rather common over there? 

They are commonly used here in the UK, particularly on exhibition layouts like North Haston, where the public like to see uncoupling without the intervention of the 'hand of God'

 

For my home layouts I gave up on them a few years ago, mainly because of the restrictions they impose when planning a small layout.

 

Mal

Edited February 4, 2014 by Alcanman

[F-UnitMad]

Since kadees have become more common on UK stock a lot more modellers know about them Over Here now, but a decade or more ago, if a US-outline layout had hidden, under track magnets especially, many Show viewers were utterly baffled by how American stock could uncouple "all by itself"....

It was one of those mystifying things, like all-axle-flywheel-drive, that compared to the standard British r-t-r models of the time, seemed so much like witchcraft that the term "The Dark Side" started to be used over here when refering to modelling US-outline....

[Glorious NSE]

I can't remember the last time I uncoupled cars with Kadee magnets on any layout. A pointy uncoupling pick means you can couple and uncouple the car anywhere.

 

It's my preference too these days...

[298]

...which creates an interesting cornundrum for the average punter at an average show, who wonders why someone would go so far as to remove the trip pins, when such a valuable asset has been provided by the manufacturer...

[Colinw62]

Since kadees have become more common on UK stock a lot more modellers know about them Over Here now, but a decade or more ago, if a US-outline layout had hidden, under track magnets especially, many Show viewers were utterly baffled by how American stock could uncouple "all by itself"....

It was one of those mystifying things, like all-axle-flywheel-drive, that compared to the standard British r-t-r models of the time, seemed so much like witchcraft that the term "The Dark Side" started to be used over here when refering to modelling US-outline....

 

 

...which creates an interesting cornundrum for the average punter at an average show, who wonders why someone would go so far as to remove the trip pins, when such a valuable asset has been provided by the manufacturer...

 

 

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it domiate your destiny, consume you it will. 

 

[F-UnitMad]

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it domiate your destiny, consume you it will.  

...and that is a problem because...???

[Northpoint]

It's my preference too these days...

 

Oddly enough, last Sunday at Stafford show, I found somebody selling the 322 magnet for code 83 track so I bought some and installed them on my layout and had a much more relaxed time switching than I had on the Saturday with the pointy-stick!

 

I agree with Jordan that as Kadees are not so widely used in the UK a lot of people still like to see the "magic".

 

However, the home layout is a different kettle of fish - pointy sticks rule!

Edited February 5, 2014 by Northpoint

[Colinw62]

Kadees have always fascinated me. The fact the the coupling also looks right is great, such a better option than what UK outline have with the tension lock.

 

Colin

[dave_long]

Ha the pointy stick is why I went to sergents, as I almost always knock the stock off the track with a pointy stick.

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear Dave,

 

So, how do you find pointing a blunt stick with a magnet on the end between the cars in comparison? Any sign of the oft-cited "attracted to metal grabs and details" issues?

 

Happy Modelling,

Aom to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

[CVSNE]

Ha the pointy stick is why I went to sergents, as I almost always knock the stock off the track with a pointy stick.

You just need to find the right stick!

[CVSNE]

For working in a small area with a few cars the magnets (aside from the aesthetic issues) work fine. The delayed action feature might be entertaining for Joe Q Public but it certainly has nothing to do with the way the prototype functions.

Probably bordering on thread hijacking but one of the reasons I don't use uncoupling magnets on my layout is I got sick of watching a nice long freight wind its way through the scene only to mysteriously break in two....or to work a track in a yard grab the cut, and have it break apart when a car at the other side of the cut passed over the magnet on the yard lead. Just a little bit of slack on a long cut of cars and they'll uncouple.

Some people use electromagnet uncoupling ramps - I've seen others put the magnets under the track and jury rig a hinge arrangement with a rod or string running to a knob in the fascia that allows you to flip the magnet in position to uncouple, and lower it out of the way to prevent accidental uncoupling.

[dave_long]

Dear Dave,

 

So, how do you find pointing a blunt stick with a magnet on the end between the cars in comparison? Any sign of the oft-cited "attracted to metal grabs and details" issues?

 

Happy Modelling,

Aom to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

 

Hi Prof

 

I made my own version, using a BIC Biro pen tube, and a set of round neo magnets and brass 1mm rod taped to the end to swing the knuckle, never had any issues attracting to metal grabs, unless I was being silly.

[Chris Gilbert]

Okay the magnet has been moved and the road narrowed a bit and with the help of Steve it now goes round the bend....

 

As it's a delayed magnet it means I can uncouple on the magnet and then push it down the branch off the crossing.

 

Still some tweaking and tidying up required but almost done

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear Marty,

 

For working in a small area with a few cars the magnets (aside from the aesthetic issues) work fine. The delayed action feature might be entertaining for Joe Q Public but it certainly has nothing to do with the way the prototype functions.

Probably bordering on thread hijacking but one of the reasons I don't use uncoupling magnets on my layout is I got sick of watching a nice long freight wind its way through the scene only to mysteriously break in two....or to work a track in a yard grab the cut, and have it break apart when a car at the other side of the cut passed over the magnet on the yard lead. Just a little bit of slack on a long cut of cars and they'll uncouple.

Some people use electromagnet uncoupling ramps - I've seen others put the magnets under the track and jury rig a hinge arrangement with a rod or string running to a knob in the fascia that allows you to flip the magnet in position to uncouple, and lower it out of the way to prevent accidental uncoupling.

 

A third option is to do as MT suggest with their N scale cars, and actually add a tiny bit of friction to one truck. MT include spiral springs to fit over the pointy-tip of one-axle-per-car in each of their coupler packets for exactly this purpose. In HO and On30, I use repurposed Kadee #5 centring springs (the flat phosphor bronze style) to rub lightly against the wheels, and the added drag makes slow-pulls accross magnets without breakaways very do-able.
(It would be intolerable to switch "Brooklyn" or "Chicago Fork" otherwise, and I'd submit actually harder to switch on a micro, as there's no extra "beyond the magnet" clear trackage on which to work).

 

As you note, it's not the action of pulling accross the magnet that's causing the "unexpected uncoupling",
its the not-smooth-movement of the train as it's pulled accross the magnet...
(to uncouple requires a magnet and slack-at-the-coupling). Funnily enough, my 4-axle switchers individually seem to be able to start-from-stationary about the same # of cars with such "drag devices" installed as without,
(current testing topped out due to test-track-capacity constraints at 16 cars/individual loco,
with B'mann 44 and 70 tonners, Ath SW1500s, and Atlas S-series Alcos all given their chance to haul...),

 

and can still haul far more cars than would be expected/required/prototypical for the modelled locations my layouts depict, or that the layout and staging capacity can handle...

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Edited February 6, 2014 by Prof Klyzlr

[F-UnitMad]

Still some tweaking and tidying up required but almost done

Lucky chap! I put down some ground cover on my layout on Monday & it still hasn't dried out properly

I hope the weather warms up well before TVNAM.....

[scouser]

Not if they are rare earth...

I'll get me coat...

I mis-read that as "dominate you dentistry"...

Not so much a coat, maybe, as a white shirt with extra-long sleeves.

And some fancy belt work.......